Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I present the reports of the Australian parliamentary delegation bilateral visit to the Republic of South Africa from 28 April to 4 May 2006 and the 114th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly held in Nairobi from 5 to 12 May 2006. It is a great privilege to be able to represent this parliament at the Inter-Parliamentary Union conferences and also at the bilateral visits that accompany those conferences. This was a particularly productive and successful delegation. I am grateful to members of the delegation, including the deputy leader of the delegation, the member for Fowler, who will speak on the bilateral visit to South Africa. I would also like to acknowledge the work of Mrs Kay Hull, the member for Riverina, and I am delighted to inform the House that my colleague was elected unanimously by the Asia-Pacific geopolitical group to the position of Titular Member of the Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians. This is an outstanding outcome, and I congratulate and thank Kay for her dedication to the task of representing women’s issues on behalf of the Australian delegation, as she has done at these last three assemblies. I must say that this builds on the work of previous delegates such as Mr Somlyay and Mrs Vamvakinou, and Senators Ferris, McKiernan and Chapman. The delegation that went to Nairobi participated constructively and enthusiastically, and I think we did great justice to the work of previous people from this House who have previously attended the work of the IPU assembly.

My contribution today will focus on the work of the delegation at the 114th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Nairobi in May this year. One of the debates conducted at the IPU is the general debate, which this year had the theme of promoting democracy and helping to build democratic institutions. I think we in Australia can see just how important that is in the region around us. I participated in this debate and spoke on the role of the Australian government in encouraging and promoting good governance in the Asia-Pacific region. We do have an excellent track record there.

The IPU also has three standing committees which debate and draft a resolution on an issue of importance. Mrs Irwin, the member for Fowler, participated in the First Standing Committee (Peace and International Security) debate on ‘The role of parliaments in strengthening control of trafficking in small arms and light weapons and their ammunition’. Senator Marshall participated in the Second Standing Committee (Sustainable Development, Finance and Trade) debate on ‘The role of parliaments in environmental management and in combating global degradation of the environment’. The member for Riverina and the member for Fowler participated in the Third Standing Committee (Democracy and Human Rights) debate on ‘How parliaments can and must promote effective ways of combating violence against women in all fields’.

The IPU is known for the work that it does in relation to women parliamentarians and, as I said, we were all delighted at the member for Riverina being elected to the Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians. One of the main areas of interest for this IPU conference included a topical panel discussion on HIV-AIDS, which all delegates took the opportunity to attend, which included an excellent contribution from Mr Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for HIV-AIDS in Africa, who focused on the devastating impact of AIDS on children in Africa. It was a very sobering panel discussion. The meeting of the IPU also allows delegates to hold informal meetings, and we met with Mr Amir Dossal.

In conclusion, may I commend my fellow delegates for their work at this IPU assembly, which is recorded in detail in the report I have just tabled, and may I also place on record our thanks to those people in this parliament, in DFAT, Jeremy Kruse in particular, in the AFP, Brendan O’Hearn, our secretary, Neil Bessell, and the high commissioners and their staff at our overseas post who made our work that much easier. I commend the report to the House. (Time expired)

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